Hi, friends! 

It’s Char here to walk you through one of the most crucial spreads in my bullet journal: the Future Log!

Future logs are some of the most common spreads you will find in a yearly or monthly bullet journal setup - and for good reason! These are super useful for seeing all of your upcoming deadlines, birthdays, or yearly events at a glance. 

There are tons of different ways you can use a future log in your bullet journal, and I’m going to take you through some of my personal favourites.

Supplies

Below is a rundown of some of the products I used to create this spread. If you would like to purchase any of these products, remember to use the code CHAR10 at checkout to save yourself some money!

• A5 Neapolitan Time for Tea Dot Grid Notebook - This journal has 3 different types of paper so that you can pick your favourite: I’m partial to the white pages for this particular spread, but feel free to experiment with other paper types too. You can also do this spread on one of the Dot Grid Notepads, or on any of the other Dot Grid Journals. 
• Green and Grey Calliograph Pens - I like to stick to one colour family for these spreads, so I chose to use a variety of greens and a grey Calliograph pen.  
• Fineliners - I used the Pentel Energel (in size 0.5) for writing the calendars.

Video

Yearly Future Logs

The most common types of Future Logs are probably annual ones. These will give you your whole year at a glance, so that you can see upcoming birthdays, events, and more in the same place. 

These are especially useful with bullet journaling because generally speaking, you usually set up one month at a time - so if an event comes up for a month that you haven’t set up yet, you can mark it in your future log until your monthly setup is ready to go. 

I always refer back to my future log when setting up a new month, and transfer the dates from my future log into my monthly ‘important dates’ section (which is basically just a mini future log with only one month in it). Below is an example of one of my monthly setups, with all of the important dates filled in after referring to my yearly future log. 

You can set up your yearly future logs either horizontally (calendars on one side, events right next to it) or vertically (calendars at the top, events underneath) depending on what you prefer. Here are some examples of both so that you can see the difference:

Vertical Set Up: @miras.journal

I love how this spread by Mira even has little icons to separate birthdays and events/appointments to make it even easier to keep things organized. 

Vertical Set Up: @littlemissrose

Check out this colourful spread by Archer & Olive Design Team Member Rose! This setup is whimsical yet clean, and has tons of planning space for each month.

Vertical Set Up: @essjay_florals

I’m obsessed with this Future Log by Design Team Member Sarah! I will definitely be borrowing her idea to add tabs on the side to make it even easier to flip through and quickly find the month you need.

Vertical Set Up: me!

Here’s a partially filled-in future log of mine from a few years ago to help give you an idea of what these spreads look like in action. 

Horizontal Set Up: @JashiiCorrin

I love this Future Log by Design Team Member Jess - clean, colourful, and efficient!

Horizontal Set Up: @pacificnotation

I love the bold simplicity of this spread by Dan. Future logs can be quite tedious (writing out all of these little calendars is definitely not a quick task), so keeping these spreads simple can definitely make them easier on your wrist!

Horizontal Set Up: @danosbujo

If you don’t have a ton of events to keep track of, you can fit more months into the same spread. Check out this example by Design Team Member Dano: 

Horizontal Set Up: me!

Here’s another of my own spreads: again, keeping it simple and clean to focus on the content.  

Task-Specific Future Logs

If you have a lot of events or deadlines to keep track of (like work, school or even birthdays), you might want to consider putting them into a separate future log. 

For example, I had a ton of deadlines to keep track of when I was a student. Rather than putting them in the same place as important dates in my personal life, I kept all of my school deadlines in a separate future log, colour-coded by subject. This way, I could clearly see all of my upcoming exams and project deadlines in the same place, without the risk of them getting lost in a sea of birthdays and dentist appointments!

Printable:

To get you started on your own Future Log, I’ve created a printable that can be used and re-used for any year - all you need to do is fill in the calendars. 

Click to download now!

I hope this helped you understand how future logs work, and how you can incorporate them into your own journal. Remember that journaling is all about what works for you, so feel free to play around and experiment to find what you enjoy!

If you’d like to see more of my spreads, you can find me on Instagram at @chardangerfield.art. 

Don’t forget to tag @archerandolive, @archerandolive.community, #AOShare and #archerandolive if you recreate this spread on your own. See you next time!